This was in the game against the Colts, not Ravens. Although the Pats did use several “trick” plays against the Ravens that also relied on confusion as to who was and who wasn’t an eligible receivable. Some of these may have also been illegal, but I’ve never seen any final conclusion on that. (full disclosure - I’m a Ravens fan).
The NFL ruled the Patriots’ plays that Harbaugh complained about legal. End of story. Using a small running back like Vereen as an offensive lineman is a horrible offensive tactic, some defensive lineman should have just rolled over him. It was just the novelty and unexpectedness of it that threw the Ravens off balance.
Tough. As Brady said, Harbaugh needs to consult the rules.
I’m a ravens fan too. And I’m hoping to win over my grandson but I’m up against giants fan mommy and redskins fan daddy. And falcon fan grandpa but he’s not much of an enthusiast.
"All warfare is based on deception."
- - Sun Tzu
The Ravens ones were checked and were legal, and the refs wents so far as to explicitly tell the Ravens not to cover the intelligible receiver..which is a bit beyond the rules. The Patriots botched two in the Colts game, of which one was flagged.
That’s part of why teams don’t do that often, or they do it very often, like on special teams...it confuses them too.
Some offenses in College have made it part of their regular game plan. ... then there’s the Swinging Gate play.
If the formations were not legal than a penalty should have been called.
For goodness sake, the ref told the Ravens not to cover the guy on one of the plays. It’s not our fault you guys cannot keep up. Our high school team does plays like that.